The Band Explains: Stereo Match - 'Paralyze The Dead'
Stereo Match talk to us about setting a mummy loose on the streets of L.A. in the visuals for their infectious indie pop groove, ‘Paralyze The Dead’, which promotes the concept of facing your fears and, self love and being true to yourself.
Where was the video for 'Paralyze The Dead' filmed?
It was filmed in Hollywood. Around the Melrose and Fairfax area.
How does the video connect with the song?
Our manager came up with the video idea of a mummy struggling to survive in L.A. and how out of place a sad mummy limping through the streets of L.A. would be. The idea was that everyone in some ways can relate to feeling like you don't belong, that you're just trying to get by but nothing ever feels like it's going your way. The song is a back and fourth between the feeling of being overwhelmed by your own fears and anxiety and the need to fight back and say to yourself, "I don't have any more time to pretend. This is it. This is life. Let's go!" The mummy was a surreal and kind of dark humoured way for us to give some kind of visual story to those themes.
Do you have behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
We filmed the whole video in a day which went super smoothly. We shot a lot in a small park in Hollywood and ended up meeting a couple awesome people that were hanging in the park and wanted to be in the video. While we shot the first guy, who takes his sun glasses off, this group of old men gambling ended up getting sick of us. They yelled at us in Russian and it was hilarious. The second guy, who acts scared as the mummy walks by, told us he acted as a security guard in Oceans 11. They were both really nice people and the crazy thing was they both told me their names were Myron, which tripped me out. I don't think I've heard that name more than once in my life and in the same park, within the same hour, two different guys told me that their names were Myron.
Can you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
I touched on it above but yeah, the concept of an out of work, nearly homeless, dead, mummy character having to exist in the real world where everyone's a dreamer was the general theme of the video. Towards the end, the mummy strips himself of his cloth and reveals what's underneath and that represented a lot of what the song means to us. Going inward is all anyone can do. What you're perceived to be on the outside is always fleeting and quite shallow. In order to face fear, one has to go inward and to do that, you have to strip it all back. We liked the idea of not concluding the video in a way that the mummy got a job and he's going to keep his old dream alive, whatever that is. We wanted him to see himself in a new way, that he was fearless and wherever he was going, he was better off.
What is the message the video is trying to convey?
I think the video is trying to convey that it's never too late to face your fears and reveal your true self to the world. I hope that in between the humour and absurdity, those themes matched with the song inspire people to give themselves a break and remember that they're worth their own love.
Interview by Karla Harris